The Sales Management of Textile Mills; Being Certain Papers of Interest and Value to Those Responsible for Selling the Production of Textile Mills

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913. Excerpt: ... I DIRECTING THE PRODUCTION OF A TEXTILE MILL A heavy responsibility rests on the shoulders of the man who undertakes to determine what lines of goods a textile mill should make. No branch of the work requires such knowledge, good judgment, up-todate information, experience, caution, honesty of purpose, and business sanity as this. Knowledge and Intuition Both Needed. To have the gift of prophecy can hardly be expected of man, and yet this gift, or something akin to it, seems to be necessary if one is to be a successful sales agent. The knowledge, care, and keen observation that some agents bring to the work enables them to guide their course so well that it seems almost as if they were endowed with a special intuition, but this insight into the market requirements is really the result of unremitting patience, observation, inquiry and work. Very Few Who Measure Up to the Situation. Unfortunately, there are few, very few, who reach or ever could reach the standard demanded by such an exacting position, whether the fault lies in their lack of proper training, their mental limitations, or in an indolence of mind that leads them to guess at things, and, generally, to allow their decisions to be largely governed by chance. The result is that, as these properly-trained and highly-qualified men are so scarce in number, it follows that but few mills enjoy the advantage of such direction, and the great majority of manufacturers are compelled to place their interests in the hands of representatives who are at the best but fairly good and are too often hopelessly incompetent. How to get the right man is the problem, and season after season a manufacturer will see his efforts thwarted, much of his machinery idle, his goods butchered, and his assets diminishing. He may...